ATI and NVIDIA chips ramp at 0.11 microns

The folks at DigiTimes have a nice scoop this morning. They're reporting that new PCI Express graphics chips from both ATI and NVIDIA are ramping up at TSMC on its 0.11-micron fab process. NVIDIA is apparently continuing its dual-foundry strategy by producing the NV41 at IBM on 0.13-microns, while having TSMC produce the NV43 on its 0.11-micron process. ATI, meanwhile, has both the RV410 and 430 in the works on 0.11 microns at TSMC. All of these chips are slated for release in the third quarter of this year, according to the report.

All the talk about PCI Express in this report makes sense in context, even if the industry doesn't make the transition instantly. NVIDIA has already stated that it will flip its bridge chip around and use a native PCI Express GPU on an AGP card, just the reverse of what it's doing now. It's possible ATI might adopt a similar approach.